Irish Republican Army

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) was an Irish republican revolutionary group that fought a guerrilla war against the United Kingdom intermittently from 1916 to 1969, when it fractured into smaller groups, most importantly the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). The IRA was formed with the goal of fighting for the independence of Ireland from Britain, which it succeeded in doing by 1921. However, the Irish Free State remained a part of the United Kingdom, leading to the Irish Civil War between the British Army and the Free State supporters under former IRA leader Michael Collins on one side and the IRA on the other. That war ended with total Irish independence in 1923, but Northern Ireland remained in British hands. The IRA conducted periodic terrorist campaigns against the British, including the sabotage campaign of 1939-1940, a northern campaign from 1940 to 1942, a border campaign from 1956 to 1962, and an insurgency from 1966 to 1969 during "The Troubles". The IRA had anywhere between 1,000 and 14,500 members from its zenith to its nadir, and the IRA fractured in 1969 as the Provisional Irish Republican Army began a violent struggle against the British, while other groups sought a peaceful solution.